The Global Uptake of Conservation Agriculture and the Impact on Water-Related Ecosystem Services

2018 ◽  
pp. 689-708
Author(s):  
Amir Kassam ◽  
David Coates
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Related Services ◽  
Alternative Crop ◽  
Current Spread ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Production Approach

Conventional tillage agriculture has a built-in propensity for soil erosion and land degradation leading to loss of ecosystem services that are required to sustain agricultural production as well as minimize off-farm impacts. It is associated with suboptimal crop and land productivity. The global uptake of Conservation Agriculture (CA), which is a recognized flagship alternative crop production approach, is built upon three practical interlinked principles of: no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance (‘no-till’), soil cover management, and diversified cropping. The current spread of CA globally is 180 M ha of annual cropland (12.5 per cent), increasing annually at 10 M ha. Knowledge of how CA positively affects ecosystem services at the field and landscape level, with emphasis on water-related services and food security, shows that CA has the potential to meet, or exceed, most of the current shortfall in projected global agricultural water demand by 2050.

scholarly journals Impact of crop residue management on crop production and soil chemistry after seven years of crop rotation in temperate climate, loamy soils

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Pierre Hiel ◽  
Sophie Barbieux ◽  
Jérôme Pierreux ◽  
Claire Olivier ◽  
Guillaume Lobet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Residue ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Residue Management ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Reduced Tillage ◽  
Crop Residue Management ◽  
The Impact

Society is increasingly demanding a more sustainable management of agro-ecosystems in a context of climate change and an ever growing global population. The fate of crop residues is one of the important management aspects under debate, since it represents an unneglectable quantity of organic matter which can be kept in or removed from the agro-ecosystem. The topic of residue management is not new, but the need for global conclusion on the impact of crop residue management on the agro-ecosystem linked to local pedo-climatic conditions has become apparent with an increasing amount of studies showing a diversity of conclusions. This study specifically focusses on temperate climate and loamy soil using a seven-year data set. Between 2008 and 2016, we compared four contrasting residue management strategies differing in the amount of crop residues returned to the soil (incorporation vs. exportation of residues) and in the type of tillage (reduced tillage (10 cm depth) vs. conventional tillage (ploughing at 25 cm depth)) in a field experiment. We assessed the impact of the crop residue management on crop production (three crops—winter wheat, faba bean and maize—cultivated over six cropping seasons), soil organic carbon content, nitrate (${\mathrm{NO}}_{3}^{-}$), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) soil content and uptake by the crops. The main differences came primarily from the tillage practice and less from the restitution or removal of residues. All years and crops combined, conventional tillage resulted in a yield advantage of 3.4% as compared to reduced tillage, which can be partly explained by a lower germination rate observed under reduced tillage, especially during drier years. On average, only small differences were observed for total organic carbon (TOC) content of the soil, but reduced tillage resulted in a very clear stratification of TOC and also of P and K content as compared to conventional tillage. We observed no effect of residue management on the ${\mathrm{NO}}_{3}^{-}$ content, since the effect of fertilization dominated the effect of residue management. To confirm the results and enhance early tendencies, we believe that the experiment should be followed up in the future to observe whether more consistent changes in the whole agro-ecosystem functioning are present on the long term when managing residues with contrasted strategies.

scholarly journals Conservation agriculture and drought-tolerant germplasm: Reaping the benefits of climate-smart agriculture technologies in central Mozambique

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 414-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Thierfelder ◽  
Leonard Rusinamhodzi ◽  
Peter Setimela ◽  
Forbes Walker ◽  
Neal S. Eash
Keyword(s):  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Maize Varieties ◽  
Tillage Treatment ◽  
Smart Agriculture

AbstractConservation agriculture (CA) based on minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and crop rotations is considered as a soil and crop management system that could potentially increase soil quality and mitigate the negative effects of climate variability. When CA is combined with drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties, farmers can reap the benefits of both—genetic improvement and sustainable land management. New initiatives were started in 2007 in Mozambique to test the two climate-smart agriculture technologies on farmers' fields. Long-term trends showed that direct seeded manual CA treatments outyielded conventional tillage treatments in up to 89% of cases on maize and in 90% of cases on legume in direct yield comparisons. Improved DT maize varieties outyielded the traditional control variety by 26–46% (695–1422 kg ha−1) on different tillage treatment, across sites and season. However a direct interaction between tillage treatment and variety performance could not be established. Maize and legume grain yields on CA plots in this long-term dataset did not increase with increased years of practice due to on-site variability between farmer replicates. It was evident from the farmers' choice that, beside taste and good milling quality, farmers in drought-prone environments considered the potential of a variety to mature faster more important than larger potential yields of long season varieties. Population growth, labor shortage to clear new land areas and limited land resources in future will force farmers to change toward more permanent and sustainable cropping systems and CA is a viable option to improve their food security and livelihoods.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impacts of Urban Expansion on Bundles of Ecosystem Services by Dmsp-Ols Nighttime Light Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 5888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangyang Gu ◽  
Xuning Qiao ◽  
Mengjia Xu ◽  
Changxin Zou ◽  
Dong Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Forest Recreation ◽  
Ecological Protection ◽  
Expansion Level ◽  
Flood Regulation ◽  
The Impact

Urban expansion poses severe threats to ecosystems. It is therefore important we better understand the impact of different urban expansion level on ecosystems for developing regionally differentiated ecological protection policies. Here, we proposed a conceptual framework to describe the impacts of urbanization on bundles of ecosystem services. Referred to as the concept of land use degree by nighttime light data, we put forward and verified an urban expansion level model. According to this model, study area was divided into a slow increase zone, increase zone, and rapid increase zone. Then, taking Taihu Lake Basin in China as a case, we used Zonal-statistics and Pearson correlation coefficients to reveal the impact in different zones of urban expansion level on multiple ecosystem services: crop production, freshwater supply, aquatic production, net primary productivity, soil conservation, water retention, flood regulation, and forest recreation index. Our results revealed that urban expansion levels significantly impacted all ecosystem services. In either increase zone or rapid increase zone, we found lowered values of crop production, net primary productivity, soil conservation, water retention, and flood regulation, while both aquatic production and forest recreation index increased in all zones from 1990 to 2010. Across the levels of urbanization, urban expansion level was always negatively correlated with provisioning services. This result suggests local governors should improve crop production per unit area and increase the cultivated land area to guarantee food security. In addition, urban expansion level had positive correlations with the trade-offs between flood regulation and forest recreation index, and those among crop production, freshwater supply, and net primary productivity. Therefore, policy-makers should effectively maintain the land use balance among ecological protection, agriculture development, and urban expansion to better coordinate relationships between development and protection. In acquiring quantitative knowledge of how urban expansion level drives ecosystem changes, our findings may help guide future sustainable urban planning with respect to ecosystem services, urban development, and human welfare benefits.

scholarly journals Shades of Greening: Reviewing the Impact of the new EU Agricultural Policy on Ecosystem Services

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hauck ◽  
Christian Schleyer ◽  
Klara J. Winkler ◽  
Joachim Maes
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Ecological Focus Areas ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

AbstractIn December 2013, the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council formally adopted the new regulations for the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (2014-2020). The new regulations include three obligatory greening measures: ecological focus areas, maintaining permanent grassland, and crop diversification. We assess the impact of these measures on ecosystem services using scientific and gray literature. The literature review reveals that the adopted greening measures will have mixed effects, i.e., trade-offs and synergies across ecosystems services. Provisioning services, in particular crop production, are expected to decrease when the measures are implemented. All other service categories, i.e., regulating and cultural services, will increase – or are at least will not obviously be negatively affected – once the measures are implemented. However, in terms of tradeoffs and synergies, much depends on objectives being pursued, the baseline or alternative land use underlying the comparison, and on the prevalent farming systems and farm characteristics. Including the ecosystem services concept into the design and assessment of policies would allow a systematic review of the consequences of measures also for services otherwise easily ignored.

scholarly journals Continuous Practice of Conservation Agriculture for 3-5 Years Reduces Soil Weed Seedbanks Size in Intensive Rice-Based Cropping Patterns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mobarak Hossain ◽  
Mahfuza Begum ◽  
Abul Hashem ◽  
Moshiur Rahman ◽  
Richard Bell
Keyword(s):  
Crop Residues ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Weed Species ◽  
Gangetic Plain ◽  
Cropping Patterns ◽  
Weed Dynamics ◽  
Annual Weeds ◽  
Changes Over Time

When farmers first shift from conventional tillage (CT) to conservation agriculture (CA) practice the control of weeds may be more difficult due to the absence of tillage. However, in the longer term (3-5 years), CA changes to weed dynamics may alter the weed seedbank. The nature of weed seedbank changes over time in intensively cropped rice-based rotations, that are typical of the Eastern Gangetic Plain, are not well understood. Three long term CA experiments were sampled (at Rajbari after 3 years and Rajshahi after 5 years) for effects of decreased soil disturbance strip planting (SP) and bed planting (BP) at both sites and Zero tillage (ZT) at Rajbari, increased retention of standing residues of previous crops (20 vs 50 %). The weed seedbank in 0-15 cm soil was quantified by assessing emergence from trays a net-house experiment during January-December 2016. The year-round count of emerged weeds revealed the fewest number of weed species (especially broadleaf weeds) and lowest weed density in SP followed by CT, BP, and ZT with 50% crop residues. The SP, BP, and ZT produced a higher number of perennials weeds than annual weeds, which was the opposite of CT. The continuous practice of SP and increased crop residue retention for 3 or more years decreased the size of weed seedbank but increased the relative proliferation of perennial weeds compared to CT. Weed seedbank size in SP was even smaller than BP and ZT.

scholarly journals Adoption of conservation agriculture practice in Bangladesh: Impact on crop profitability and productivity

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
MT Uddin ◽  
AR Dhar ◽  
MM Islam
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Cost Ratio ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

The study was conducted to assess the impact of conservation agriculture practice on crop profitability in Bangladesh and to identify the determinants of adopting such practice. A total of 300 farmers (50 focal, 100 proximal and 150 control) from five districts (Mymensingh, Bogra, Tangail, Sherpur and Jamalpur) were selected. Focal farmers were selected purposively; and proximal and control farmers were selected randomly. Descriptive statistics like sum, averages, percentages and ratios were calculated to evaluate the socioeconomic data. Profitability of crop production was measured in terms of gross return, gross margin, net return and benefit cost ratio (BCR). Crop productivity was measured using the Enyedi’s crop productivity index. The BCR of focal, proximal and control farmers were 2.58, 2.24 and 2.18, respectively. The crop productivity of focal, proximal and control farmers were increased by 0.5, 1.1 and 1.4 percent, respectively with respect to the entire region. Educational level of household head, farm size, farm income, extension contact and farming experience were found as significant factors through logit model that affect the adoption of this practice by the farmers. Input support, motivation, training programmes and extension services by different government and non-government organizations should be properly organized and implemented to raise the consciousness and enhance the knowledge of the farmers on conservation agriculture practice.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 14(1): 101-112, June 2016

scholarly journals Role of Conservation Agriculture for Sustaining Soil Quality and Improving Crop Productivity- A Review

2020 ◽  
pp. 44-54
Author(s):  
Tanveer Ahmad Ahngar ◽  
Zahida Rashid ◽  
Raies Ahmad Bhat ◽  
Waseem Raja ◽  
Sadaf Iqbal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Quality ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Mineral N

Intensive agriculture and excessive use of external inputs are leading to degradation of soil and water resources and negatively affecting agricultural production. This review article aims to determine the role of conservation agriculture for sustaining soil quality and improving crop productivity. Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices cause prominent changes in physical, chemical and biological properties of soil compared to conventional agricultural practices. The improved bio-physico-chemical qualities of soil in turn, affect the ecosystem services and sustainability of crop production system through counterbalancing the climate variability with the help of increasing sink for carbon sequestration within the soil. There was significant interaction of tillage and cropping system on mineral nitrogen measured at the beginning of the cropping system. Mineral N contents were higher with manual tillage and no tillage systems compared with conventional tillage in the soybean maize rotation system. Conservation agriculture also helps in improving the crop production in a sustainable way hence there is an intense need of conservation agriculture which will not only meet the present and future demand of ever increasing population, but also seize degradation of environmental quality.

scholarly journals Agronomic Management Strategies for Yield-Scaled Global Warming Potential under Rice-Wheat Cropping System

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Suborna Roy Choudhury ◽  
Anupam Das ◽  
S. K. Gupta ◽  
Seema . ◽  
R. P. Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Green Manure ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Zero Tillage ◽  
Crop Establishment ◽  
Residue Retention

Greenhouse gas emissions have an indirect impact on crop production and are primary sources of the global warming. A field experiment was carried out to examine the effect of management practice (i.e. culmination of tillage and nutrient management) on GHGs emission and its subsequent effect on agronomic productivity and subsequent impact on global warming. There were three different crop establishment methods as main plot treatments: M1 (Rice: SRI, Wheat: Conventional tillage), M2 (Rice: Transplanted Puddle rice, Wheat: Conventional tillage + 30% residue incorporation), M3 (Rice: DSR, Wheat: Zero tillage + 30% residue retention) and four nutrient management as sub plot treatments viz. S1(100% of Recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) through inorganic sources), S2 (75% of RDF through inorganic sources + 25% N of RDF through organic sources), S3 (50% of RDF through inorganic sources + 50% N of RDF through organic sources), S4 (S1 + mung bean as green-manure). After conducting three year of experiment (2013-2016), it has been found that the DSR emitted lower CH4 (1.39 mg m-2 hr-1), CO2 (0.57 mg m-2 hr-1) and N2O (0.36 mg m-2 hr-1) at the maximum tillering stage of rice. The same trend was followed under zero tillage with30% residue retention in wheat with lower emission range of all three gases i.e. 0.95, 1.29 and 0.58 mg m-2 hr-1 respectively. Lowest emission of CH4 and CO2 with the values of 1.87 and 1.24 mg m-2 hr-1 respectively from rice and 1.57 and 3.23 mg m-2 hr-1 from wheat was observed under 100% RDF through inorganic fertilization, whereas, N2O emission was just reverse to emission pattern of CH4 and CO2. Crop establishment through minimum soil disturbance with residue retention under rice- wheat cropping sequence along with 100% RDF through mineral fertiliser along with green manure could be one of the stable agronomic strategies under lower GHGs emission scenarios.

scholarly journals Challenging conservation agriculture on marginal slopes in Sehoul, Morocco

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Schwilch ◽  
A. Laouina ◽  
M. Chaker ◽  
N. Machouri ◽  
M. Sfa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Cover ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Degraded Land ◽  
Tillage Practices

AbstractIn Sehoul, Morocco, the use of marginal land for agriculture became a necessity for the local population due to increased poverty and the occupation of the best land by new owners. Desertification poses an additional threat to agricultural production on marginal slopes, which are often stony and degraded. In a participatory process embedded in the EU DESIRE research project, potential sustainable land management measures were selected to address land degradation and desertification. Promising experiences with no-tillage practices elsewhere in Morocco had motivated the Moroccan government to promote conservation agriculture throughout the country. This combination of crop rotation, minimal soil disturbance and soil cover maintenance, however, had not yet been tested on sloping degraded land. Field trials of grazing enclosure combined with no or minimum tillage were conducted on the plots of two farmers, and trial results were analyzed based on stakeholders’ criteria. Results suggest that increased soil cover with barley residues improved rainwater use efficiency and yields only slightly, although soil water was generally enhanced. Soil moisture measurements revealed that no-tillage was favorable mainly at soil depths of 5 cm and in connection with low-rainfall events (<20 mm); under these circumstances, moisture content was generally higher under no-tillage than under conventional tillage. Moreover, stakeholder discussion confirmed that farmers in Sehoul remain primarily interested in animal husbandry and are reluctant to change the current grazing system. Implementation of conservation agriculture is thus challenged both by the degraded, sloping and stony nature of the land, and by the socio-economic circumstances in Sehoul.

scholarly journals MINIMUM TILLAGE NON-PUDDLED TRANSPLANTED RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.): WEED CONTROL AND ECONOMICS UNDER CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE PRACTICE IN BANGLADESH

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mobarak Hossain ◽  
Mahfuza Begum ◽  
Abul Hashem ◽  
Md. Moshiur Rahman ◽  
Richard W. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Weed Control ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Oryza Sativa L ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Weed Density ◽  
Hand Weeding ◽  
Strip Tillage ◽  
Rice Residues

Crisis of agricultural laborers in South Asia’s rural zones is pushing to pursue a labor-saving conservation agriculture strategy for crop production and weed control. Non-puddled transplanting and mulching residues of the previous crop are being developed for rice-based cropping systems in Bangladesh to address this issue. Hence, the present study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of strip tillage vs. conventional tillage combined with previous rice residues relative to herbicides and hand weeding on weed control and grain yield of winter rice during January-May in 2015 and 2016. Rice cv. BRRI dhan28 was transplanted with a combination of six treatments: puddled conventional tillage (CT)+3 hand weeding (HW) (Control); Preplant (PRE) herbicide (glyphosate)+non-puddled strip tillage (ST)+1HW; PRE+ST+pre-emergence (PE) herbicide (pendimethalin); PRE+ST+post-emergence (PO) herbicide (ethoxysulfuron-ethyl); PRE+ST+PE+PO; PRE+ST+weed-free (WF); and two levels of rice residues: no-residue (R0) vs. 50% standing residue (R50). The CT had done using a two-wheel tractor (2WT) by four ploughings and cross ploughings followed by levelling. A Versatile Multi-Crop Planter (VMP) was used for ST in a single pass operation. Over the two years, PRE+ST+PE+PO reduced weed density by 40% in the first year and 50% in the second year and weed biomass by 70% than CT+3HW in both years. Retention of 50% residue reduced weed density by 20% and biomass by 34%. The highest grain yield (12% higher than CT+3HW without residue) was obtained from PRE+ST+WF with 50% residue, while the highest BCR (47% higher over CT+3HW without residue) was obtained from PRE+ST+PE+PO with 50% residue.

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